This inquiry takes students through an analysis and evaluation of the Compelling Question “Is protest important in a democracy?” using the Vietnam War as a lens to approach the topic. To accomplish this, students will become more media literate through evaluating sources, biases, perspectives, and the goals of creating media. Throughout the inquiry, students will engage in activities designed to promote and develop media literacy while analzying the Compelling Question and learning about the historical protests of the Vietnam Era.This inquiry is expected to take two weeks (10 periods) to complete: one 45-minute class period to stage the question, introduce the inquiry, and to review media literacy; two 45-minute class periods for each of the three supporting questions; and then three 45-minute class periods for students to write and research their argumentative thesis. If students are as of yet less familiar with media literacy, the instructor should add at least another class period, or more, introducing them more fully to this.The full unit, along with all materials and resources, is available as a PDF attachment.

Film study of historical fiction film, Pad Man: a fictionalized account of the quest of a real-life social entrepreneur from India who ultimately used the engineering design process to reverse-engineer series of mini-machines to manufacture affordable sanitary pads for women.

Student Learning Objectives As a result of meeting the requirements in this course, you will be able to: 1.     Employ a variety of approaches to analyze and interpret texts.  (PLG 1) (Gen Ed Goal 1 a)2.     Respond to texts, in discussion and writing assignments, demonstrating an understanding of rhetorical strategies employed in the texts. (PLG 2) (Gen Ed Goal 1a, b; 6 a, b)3.      Incorporate the fundamentals of academic essay writing such as gathering ideas, developing and clearly stating theses, organizing, drafting, revising, and editing.  (PLG 3) (Gen Ed Goal 1 c, d)     4.      Compose essays in several rhetorical modes, such as description, comparison/contrast, and argument.   (PLG 3) (Gen Ed Goal 1c, d)5.     Move from personal responses to formal academic essays, including appropriate, properly formatted evidence from outside sources. (PLG 4, 5) (Gen Ed Goal 1 c)    6.     Accurately incorporate the ideas of others using summary, paraphrase, and direct quotation. (PLG 4, 5) (Gen Ed Goal 1 c; 6 b)7.     Incorporate the academic requirements, tools, and techniques of research through the resources of contemporary information science.  (PLG 6) (Gen Ed Goal 4 a, b, c, d)8.      Employ current MLA style for text presentation, in-text citations, and Works Cited pages for essays and research papers.  (PLG 5, 6) (Gen Ed Goal 4 a, b, c, d)9.      Write an argumentative research paper accurately incorporating material from outside sources. (PLG 4, 5, 6) (Gen Ed Goal 1 a, b, c, d; 4 a, b, c, d; 6 a, b) Course Requirements You will be required to do the following: Write at least four multi-paragraph assignments of at least 500 words.(Meets student learning objectives 1-5) Write at least one in-class essay.     (Meets student learning objectives 2-5) Complete other writing exercises such as summaries, journals, reading responses, reading comprehension questions, quizzes on reading assignments, letters, resumes, etc.      (Meets student learning objectives 1-6) Read, interpret, and analyze a variety of texts.      (Meets student learning objectives 1, 2) Conduct independent research and write a 5-7-page research paper, using MLA style.      (Meets student learning objectives 6-9) Submit papers that adhere to MLA manuscript requirements and which demonstrate effective proofreading and editing.      (Meets student learning objectives 1-9) Participate in class discussions and other in-class (individual or group) activities necessary to produce quality expository prose.      (Meets student learning objectives 2-7)